This Week

Dear Kate,
We've been keeping busy this past week with lots of fun activities.  We blew up the bouncy house and let you have a go in it!

Man alive do you love it! And your sister loves jumping with you in it!  It makes me a wee bit nervous, but I am learning that you are a strong little peanut!  Got to be, with a sister like yours :)  You love sliding down it and hopping up and down on your knees!
You and your sister also went on a little drive around the neighborhood.  You were a little apprehensive about the whole sister driving you around, but did rather well.  Mommy eventually had to pull the plug because your sis would get so excited about a butterfly or something and steer right into the curb.  Fine for her, but you can't quite handle the whip lash...

We also had a lovely walk through the neighborhood in the pouring rain!  It was raining like no other, and we were tired of being inside, so Abs and I put on our rain boots, got you in the bjorn, and got the biggest umbrella we had.  It was actually quite pleasant walking in the rain!


On Wednesday, we met all the cousins for a fun day at the trampoline park!  That's right, a whole bunch of trampolines in one place - also known as heaven in Mommy's mind :)  And you got to do some jumping!!  All the cuz's were there including Alexis, Caroline, Harrison, Spencer, Ellie and Aunt Amy and Aunt Carly!  Alexis loved showing you the ropes to a good jumper!

And Aunt Amy proved you can be over 40 and still do toe touches!!

 We had a fun time doing flips and jumping in the foam pits and you loved crawling around everywhere!  After jumping we got some lunch at the aquarium museum where Harrison and Spencer made it their mission to make you smile!  Mission accomplished very easily, no doubt!

Also this week you woke up with this lovely curl!

I thought it was just way to cute to not take a picture.  I also sang "We represent the Lollipop Kids, the Lollipop kids, the Lollipop Kids" all day long :)  Too cute!!!
And at one point this week, your sister was having a melt down and opened the gate just to be, well, a 3 year old, and well, you climbed all the way to the top.  Of the stairs. The wooden stairs.  Someone had a heart attack and it wasn't you or your sister who was in BIG TIME TROUBLE.  But then I was super impressed and wanted to film you doing, you know, to show you off, but you decided to just hang out on the bottom step - but man alive you sure are cute!

A Visit to Aunt Amy's

Dear Kate,

Last weekend, Daddy finally got his birthday present.  He and the other daddies (Uncle Jaybee, Mr. Lee and Mr. Jay) headed to St. Louis for a Cardinals game!  Mommy's awesome like that, but anyway. So they left on Saturday morning, and since they left, I thought, we should leave, too!  So we did!  And headed to Cookeville to spend with Aunt Amy and her crew.  Aunt Steph, Ellie and Christopher decided to do the same so we had a little girls (and children) weekend!  Well, that's what it was supposed to be.  Things don't always go as expected...

See, I had this great plan that as soon as you woke up from your morning nap, usually around 11:30, we'd skedaddle out of the house so you wouldn't fall asleep in the car on our 1 & half hour drive to Aunt Amy's and then we'd visit a bit and put you down for your afternoon nap, giving Mommy a chance to chill with the the aunties.  Well, it started off great.  Nap went well, we were headed that way, Sister fell asleep (unexpected, but pleasing!) and you were awake.  Then you started crying.  And somehow found your paci.  Then I noticed you got quiet.  I looked in the mirror and AhHHHHH you were asleep!  I quickly grabbed the paci from your mouth and you were awake.  And crying.  But we were minutes away and I found a cracker for you to chew on :)  So we made it for the most part with no nap and you were ready to play!  

 Well, 2:30 approached and it was clear you were ready for your afternoon nap, so off to 'bed' we go.  Bed is used loosely because A) you are in the pak n play and B) you are in Aunt Amy's room - the room that hears EVERYTHING!  Well, their whole house hears everything.  It's one of those fancy old houses with those windows above the doors, but they don't have any glass, so you seriously hear everything!  Anyway, no other option, so off to bed we went.  I thought it would be fine once you were asleep, but getting you asleep was the first problem.  Finally you were asleep, and I swear it was not 15 minutes later and you were up.  I let you cry for a bit, but it didn't seem to bother you at all, so I decided to try to get you back to sleep.  Nah, none of that.  So up you were, playing with the crew.  Thankfully you were in good spirits all afternoon, considering no nap, so that was good.  We all played, mainly inside because it's still 200 degrees outside, and everyone loved playing with you.  6:30 rolled around and I had you fed and in your jammies because you needed sleep!  Well, off you went and at 7 I thought I was coast free, pouring myself a glass of Mommy juice.  Well... by 7:45, you were crying.  I went upstairs to the attic (where you were now located), put you back to sleep, which took forever because you did not want in that pak n play and preferred my cozy arms.  Well, back you were asleep, and low and behold an hour later, up again. I'll just wrap this up quickly.  You woke up 2 more times, one of which was in the middle of dinner and finally at 10 I decided to call it a night and just hold you for however long it took to convince you I was not going to put you in the pak n play - even though I did...

What's crazy is it worked!  I held you (and your sister, but that's another story, her story!) and you slept peacefully and then about 30 minutes later I put you in the pak n play and you slept ALL NIGHT LONG!  Either you were tired by that point, or I did a good job of slowly lowering you into the bed - a hidden talent I am quite proud of :)
UGH!!!  I was so upset that night because all I wanted to do was hang out with Aunt Amy, Aunt Steph and Aunt Jill (who dropped by), but it just wasn't happening!  While I was holding you, and while I was being a baby about the whole thing, I had an epiphany.  Things could be worse.  If the worst thing happening to me right now is my 9 month old is having an off night, of which I haven't seen in a LONG time, then my word, I'll take it.  I've been seeing all these blogs about little girls and boys being sick and the struggles their families are going through and I promise you little girl, I said to myself "Things could be so much worse.  Look at me - I've got a healthy (and beautiful) baby girl in my arms, asleep.  Deal with it!"  So, all that said, things happen, not always what you expect, but we handle it! And later look back and enjoy that funny laughable memory :)  The next morning I woke up (early, thanks to you and your messed up sleep!) and thought how lucky I am.  About that time your sister rolled up beside me, ready to get the day started, and I just smiled and said "Okay!".
So, all that said, thank you.  Thank you for having an off night and making me realize how lucky I have it.  How grateful I should be.  How one bad day is nothing to the million I get to spend with you and your sister!  Love you sweet girl!!

4th of July

Dear Kate,

You celebrated your first of many fun 4th of Julys, and boy was it hot!!!  We started the day by swimming it up with our very nice and sharing neighbors, well, actually, we let you sleep and when you woke up from your nap, then you swam with us!  I was super pumped when I figured out that the monitor will pick up at their pool!!  So anyway, we swam a little bit and then got ready for Uncle Jaybee's swimming pool!  He set up the waterslide and put out the kiddy pool for you little fellas, but of course the older siblings had to get their share of little pool in, too.  Your sister was super friendly with you, but you didn't seem to mind.  I think you were just happy to be cooling off!  

And, clearly, you are teething :)  After a little swim, then a little dinner (including Mommy spilling your food all over the wall, curtains, table and floor!), you headed off to bed :)  I know, we didn't let you stay up for the fireworks.  Maybe next year.  Or the year after.  Heck, you may be scared like your sister, so we may never see fireworks again!!! Nonetheless, you had a great 4th of July with our closest friends and fam!  Did I mention your buddy Jake was there (and his fam!). So see, fireworks or not, fun times were made :)  Love you little firework!!!

Grandmomma's Birthday

Dear Kate,

Last Saturday, we headed to Kingston Springs to celebrate Grandmomma's 92nd birthday!  That's Daddy's grandmother, and Papa Larry's mommy!! 

This was your first family reunion with the Clark family and boy were there a lot of faces to meet!  But, first things first, we couldn't go without a picture of your favorite cuz's, and it doesn't help that y'all are cute as a button all dressed alike!!!  

You did fantastic and loved crawling around, thankfully in the air conditioner!  Everyone thought you were cute as can be and wondered where in the world the blonde hair and blue eyes came from!! It was great to see all the kiddos and cousins and aunts and uncles and grandmommas!!!!  A fun first family reunion!!  Love you!

9 months old!

Dear Kate,
You are officially 9 months old!  What a big girl you are, and man alive, look at that hair!!  It's blonde and a lot of it.  And, of course, you are as cute as can be.

 But what a mover you are!

This month was rather hard to take your pictures, if you can't tell!  Aside from squirming when trying to take pictures, changing your diaper has become a complete nightmare.  Every single time, unless you are just SUPER tired, I literally have to hold you down with one arm and change with the other.  Sometimes, and I mean a few sometimes, I can distract you long enough with a toy, or the desitin, or my phone!, to change you, but most of the time I end up chasing you down the hall, half naked (you, that is, not me!)  You can only imagine what poopy diapers are like! 

You also are cruising everywhere.  You've learned to sit after standing up, thankfully!, and not like to gracefully move from one end of the bathtub to the other (that's the outside of the tub that I'm referring to).  You also like to stand up on the the shelf with the microwave and also look at yourself in the bottom oven!  

You're loving Sister's chalkboard (still, maybe.  You seemed to have been loving this for awhile), and you still love your Mommy more than anyone else.  It drives Mommy a little crazy at times, and by 5 oclock crazy has taken it's course!  But as long as you don't see me, you are fine.  For the most part... 

You are eating yummy table food now.  Let's see, you eat your peas and carrots with no problem, and have tried diced peaches and pears.  I'll occasionally give you some of Mommy's banana or your sister will offer you whatever she's eating, but we for the most part stick to the peas and carrots.  Stage 3 food isn't your fave, but you are handling it fairly well.  Those noodles will give you a run for their money every now and then.  Oh, and you are sort of kind of drinking from your sippy cup.  It's a slow process, and I only do it during meal times, but you do like to play with it. My goal it so be rid of bottles by your first birthday!!! Also my goal is to have you walking in 2 weeks so you won't crawl in the sand (as we're headed back to the beach!!!) but I doubt that's gonna happen!  As for now, I'll chase my cute, half naked, crawling baby!! 

 Happy 9 months!!!  Love you sweet thing!!!

Jake's & Grant's Birthday!

Dear Kate,

Your best buddy had his big first birthday on Saturday!  It was a Goodnight Moon themed party so you got to wear pajamas!!  And of course, you matched your sister!  

Yep, those are pinkalicious jammies, with a tu-tu and all!  The big kids played outside most of the time, but you and Jakey played inside, which Mommy didn't mind too much b/c it was H-O-T outside!  

And Christopher played a bit with you, too!!!

We ate yummy food and watched Jake NOT smash his cake.  Silly boy, he doesn't know what he's missing does he?!  You don't either, but Mommy sure does, so I ate his share of the cake :) Miss Leigh and her Mommy and Mr. Lee's mommy always out do themselves between the cake and the snack mix and pretty much everything else!  Since Mommy was alone (Daddy was on a business trip in Chicago), we didn't stay super late and you were super tired!  You even fell asleep on the short drive home and stayed asleep as I put on your sleep sak!
On Sunday, guess what we did?  Went to another birthday party!!  We're socialites at it's best :)  It was Grant's 2nd birthday party, but no jammies this time!  But, we did have Grant's (and Jake's!) granddad there to help entertain you two!  He was nice enough to pull you around in the wagon over and over and over again!!Whether it was with Jake...

Or by yourself...

Or Ellie...

Or your sister!

I think you found a new love!  You did bounce a little in the bouncy house and George (Grant's cousin) was upset when we went inside (because again, it was super H-O-T!) and said "That girl got out of the bouncy house!" but he, too, found the air conditioner :)
After opening presents and getting a bite to eat, we headed back home (again, by myself!!) and drifted off to bed dreaming of cupcakes!
We love our birthday parties!!!  Love you, too!!!

Camp Mimi

Dear Kate,

Because you haven't seen Mimi enough, we headed to her house for a week!  

Well, really Lizzy and Sarah and Emery were in town, but also because we wanted to spend a week with Mimi!!  You had tons of fun while visiting and were the center of the attention whenever around!  Sarah, particularly, took a special liking to you and always wanted to hold you or help you or whatever.  I have to say, she was a pretty good help most of the time.  Gonna be a good babysitter for sure!  

So the days of the week went by pretty fast, but here's a brief overview...

Monday we went swimming at Mammaws.  You swam some, but you also played in the house with Mammaw and Skipper, and whoever else was taking a break from swimming! 

 On Tuesday morning, you and I headed to get your 9 month pictures taken from Mr. Phil.  As always, you were perfect and full of pretty faces and big smiles.  It's so hard to choose your pictures!  After pictures, we raced back home in time for you to take a nap and Mommy to head off to the water park with everyone else.  That's right, we didn't take you... But we didn't leave you alone, either.  Ash-ash's babysitter stayed with you and said you were great!  The water park does not have an ounce of shade, like literally, not an ounce, so it just would not have worked out for you!  Don't worry, you'll be right there with us next year!
On Wednesday, we all headed to the zoo and you got to go!!! "We" included Mommy, Sister, Ellie (yep, we brought Ellie with us!!), Ash-ash, Clara Lee, Aunt G, John Michael, Emily, Lizzy, Lynne, Sarah, and Emery!  Whoa is right!  And boy was it hot!  Good thing was, we got there right when the zoo opened, so it wasn't too too bad.  You did a great job with putting up with the heat and even took a couple naps in the shade while the rest of the gang road camels, fed giraffes, and looked at animal after animal after animal. You aren't quite into the animals just yet, but you had plenty of entertainment from your cousins!

Clara Lee was determined to make you smile!!  

 I told her it didn't take much!!  

And you look so relaxed!

 We finally found a random room (I think they show movies about farming or something) that was air conditioned and empty!  So we took complete advantage.  We let you crawl around while we munch on a snack and cooled off!  You were non stop and did not want to pose for a pic!

 After a long day at the zoo, we took a dip at Mammaw that evening and headed home to sleep, sleep, sleep.  Speaking of, both you and your sister were off your game this week at Mimi's.  You were okay during the night, but man alive you were waking up at like 5 each morning.  A couple times was before 5 and I had to hold you in the chair and you finally would go back to sleep.  Mommy's not cool with that.  At all.  Since we've been back home you've been better, but still getting up a smidge to early.  Anyway...
So Thursday we chillaxed a bit and headed over to Ash-ash's house.  The big girls fed the goats and you relaxed in Mommy's arms.  You did a little playing in the playroom, too!

 After lunch, we decided to head to the movies.  It was going to be perfect timing because you needed a nap.  So, off we went and man alive, it couldn't have been more perfect!  We walked in, got our seats, previews came on, I took you outside and by the end of the first preview, you were asleep!  And guess what, you slept the ENTIRE movie!!!  I couldn't believe it.  I should have though, you're helpful when you want to be :)  After the movie, we headed home and all got in bed super early that night.
On Friday, we headed back to Mammaws for one last swim and visit before wrapping up Camp Mimi. You played and swam and slept and swam and played and slept!  And Mommy clearly didn't break out the camera!  You headed home with Mimi while I stayed a little longer with the older girls and soon enough we were all home and packed and ready to leave bright and early Saturday morning.  A great week at Camp Mimi.  Maybe next year you will participate a little more, but for now, we were all happy with our Sweet Kate!
Love you!!